The Things You Do to Me
by mmothballs
Summary: Because it's easier to be angry than to remain torn up in grief, easier to make Stefan's life a living hell than to forgive him. A series of random drabbles, missing scenes or predictions that follow the TV episodes.
1. Friday Night Bites

**Friday Night Bites**

Damon watches her chest rise and fall with each restful breath. The sleep that claims her has erased all the angry lines on her face that lately have always been present in his company. He realizes that this is the first time he has ever seen her like this, so peaceful. Just watching her lie there on the bed brings out the urge to stifle out that innocent vulnerability.

He could do it, he thinks, and his eyes grow dark as he toys with the idea. But the moment is as fleeting as his desire to kill her and the idea is discarded.

_Not yet anyway_, he tells himself. Because somewhere there's a part of him that doesn't want to kill her. She is so beautiful, he thinks. So exactly like Katherine that it's almost like she's here. Alive. Breathing... Human.

Except he had never known Katherine while she was human and this realization bothers him. He fancied himself as someone who knew everything there was to know about her and yet here he was, wondering what sort of human she would have been.

Absently he traces his fingers gently down the sleeping girl's face, because in his mind she has become Katherine. (Because she looks _exactly_ like Katherine.)

Somewhere in his chest it hurts. Something hurts, but he doesn't want to think about what it might be.

He knows he really should listen to his own advice; that he really needs to let the past go. But those words to Stefan were just that, words.

Deep down he knows he hasn't gotten over it and wonders if he ever would. It angers him that Stefan sees this, angers him that Stefan also seems to have moved on (even if she looks exactly like Katherine).

Because Stefan is right, he still loves her.

Thinking of these things only darkens his mood and he feels his anger surge as he stares at the girl on the bed.

He's always been angry, but now he's angry at his own weakness and it throws him. Because after all these years, if Damon's learnt anything it's that it's easier to be angry than to remain torn up in grief, easier to make Stefan's life a living hell than to forgive him.

And so as he watches her sleep, he remains angry at himself for allowing this fragile woman child to hold something over him.

(Just because she looks exactly like Katherine.)


	2. Family Ties

**Family Ties**

Jenna Sommers almost chokes on her spoonful of cereal when she sees his face on the morning news.

_How perfect_, she thinks. Just what she needed this early in the morning, and just like that her good mood is gone.

She closes her eyes; as if she can will his image away if she blinks hard enough, hoping that this was some kind of funny dream or illusion. Because really, whoever decided to put _him_ on national television should just… die.

But this isn't a dream or some sick reality TV, and willing him away is not helping.

He's talking about the animal that had been caught earlier that morning. A cougar. The expression of honesty and assurance etched on his face is an irony that is not lost on her and she crushes the empty milk carton in one tightly clenched fist.

Later that evening at the founders' party she sits at an almost empty table, playing with a dessert fork, too fed up to even wipe the bored expression off her face. She's spent most of the evening listening to the women of Mystic Falls talked about their ridiculously insignificant lives and she wonders what she's doing here. If she rolled her eyes anymore tonight they'd fall right out of her head.

Events such as this had never been her thing. She had been the sister that left town, the one that went away for college in an attempt to leave this town as far away as possible. Since coming back from LA, the small town that she had grown up in had somehow gotten impossibly smaller. It was especially during events like this when she felt the familiar claustrophobia like a hot wire around her neck.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Jenna lets out an exasperated sigh, awarding her the sympathetic look of a late forty-something year old woman whom her sister would no doubt recognize. She smiles kindly at Jenna.

"Of course spring carnival will be late this year," she comments, much to Jenna's confusion, because Jenna had been too busy fantasizing about man-eating cougars and Logan Scumfell to have followed the conversation.

Making some noncommittal noise, she manages to escape her seat before the onslaught of Mrs. Lockwood's carefully planned council events could fall around her head.

She could be at home right now working on her thesis, she thinks, because this night really couldn't get any worse.

She's lifting a glass of wine off a waiter when she eventually spots him watching her.

_Oh great. It just did._


	3. You're Undead to Me

**You're Undead to Me**

When Bonnie dreams she dreams of fire. Fire and death, although usually not together. The incident with Mr. Tanner had left her more than a little freaked out and while she really wants to talk to someone, everyone else has been far too busy.

Not that she can really blame them.

Elena was busy with Stefan, who was brilliant for her, except for the aura of death that followed him around like a second shadow. And while she had certainly warmed to his company around Elena, he wasn't quite in Bonnie's circle of trust yet.

Caroline was… well, Caroline. Always busy with cheer leading or planning events as social chair, talking more than she ever listened so it wasn't like it mattered anyway. Plus Caroline had been attacked or had for some reason allowed Damon to hurt her. Setting a room full of candles alight paled in comparison.

She guessed she could call up her grandmother, but something about that idea dissuaded her. You didn't go to the priest if you wanted confirmation that demons didn't exist, after all, and all Bonnie wanted right now was to be told that she was normal; maybe a little psychic, perhaps, but certainly not a witch.

She rolled the candle between her fingers as she listened to Caroline talk, wishing for the millionth time that there was some way to get the answers she needed. No - answers she _wanted_. Instead she sighed and put down the candle.

When Bonnie goes to bed that night she dreams of death and fire, watching behind lidded eyes as Mystic Falls is consumed.

But tonight it's different. Tonight she doesn't wake up in sweat-soaked sheets, because tonight there is someone else there with her.

Meredith.

* * *

**A/N:** Rumor has it that Meredith is coming out to play in the TV series! Hope it's true. :)


	4. Lost Girls

**Lost Girls**

He could hear her body sliding against the front door as she lowered herself to the floor. The sobs that escaped her throat continued tearing their way through the hole that her words had made.

Some masochistic part of him was glad that she now knew the truth; that she was aware of what he was and that she'd be able to make her own decisions based on the information that she now possessed; information that no one could take away from her as long as she chose to keep the necklace on.

From now on, everything would be her choice. No more secrets.

She had every right to send him away. He knew this, but the sorrow of losing her; of her not wanting – of not being _able_ to be with him feels like another wooden bullet beneath his ribs. He had lost her at the very steps of her house and for a while he remains standing there, staring at her door as if he could see right through it.

Eventually Jeremy comes home and she is forced to get up. From his perch in the tree outside her bedroom he listens to her breath slow, deep breaths. She is finally asleep. He knows that somewhere out in the woods the humans were probably chasing Damon. Vicky was probably out there chasing humans, and he should probably be out there chasing Vicky, but he has no desire to leave. He feels better sitting there, as if being closer to her lessens the pain, even though it shouldn't because every time he closes his eyes, all he sees is her fear of him. Her fear and the revulsion that flashed across her face. Because that hurts more than the words.


	5. Haunted

**A/N: **Special thanks to Princess Blah Blah Blah and Bella Loves Jake for your reviews!

**Haunted**

An expression of mild interest flittered across his face and was gone as he regarded Vicky's staked body that lay sprawled out on the tarmac. It was only because his kind didn't die very often. He hadn't been lying when he said he didn't care.

In the present context, her outfit seemed even more ridiculous, a warped joke that made everything about the scene appear even more unreal. And really, you had to love Halloween. When else would you ever come close to finding a sexy nurse crying over the body of a staked vampire? Except that this time the vampire was real, the blood was real, just like the very living human who was bleeding deliciously as she yelled at him.

Like he said, it didn't matter. And she just wasn't getting it. Seeing her crouch next to Vicky's body had already set his temper when his eyes flashed to the wound on her neck.

She was bleeding because another vampire had bitten her and that thought made him angry. Not because she was hurt, he tells himself (because only Stefan would think like that). He was angry because it hadn't been him that had bitten her. Someone else had tasted her. And if that someone else hadn't happened to be dead already, Damon would've made sure of it.

Because nothing mattered except her. Because she was special. Because once again she was insisting that he cared, when he knew he really didn't – insisting that he was better than he showed himself to be.

Because she was the only human in the whole world who would dare slap a vampire. Twice.

He didn't know why he offered to help with her brother. He guessed that it was just something he could give back to her for all that he had taken already. Not that he would admit it, of course. Technically he didn't even kill Vicky Donavan. That had been Stefan (although Stefan would tell you a different story), so he found himself wondering what he was doing as he entered the house, flashing up the stairs to the crying boy on the bed. Wait; no… he knew what he was doing, _obviously_. He just didn't know _why_. What did he care if some snot-nosed teenager was pining over his properly dead vampire girlfriend?

He didn't. So why was he doing this? He looked at the kid who had yet to notice him.

"Hello Jeremy."

He probably shouldn't have given in to the temptation of a dramatic entrance, but he just couldn't help himself. Jeremy flinched; eyes shooting wide open when he realized that he wasn't alone. "What the hell are you doing here?"

_Well, hello to you too._ "Elena sent me."

Damon crossed the room at human pace as Jeremy shot him a skeptic look. He wasn't in the mood to answer some kid's questions. It was time to get this over and done with.

Focusing on the kid who was already staring at him he repeated Elena's request.

"All that you saw tonight didn't happen. Vicky Donavan left town. She is not coming back and you will not look for her. You shouldn't worry about her. You'll miss her but it's for the best." Damon paused, eyeing the bottle of pills that stood on the table top.

_Since he was already fixing him…_

"You won't be needing these anymore," he said, listening to Jeremy's mumbling mimic, making sure the message was being delivered. "Whatever pain you felt is gone now. And you didn't see me tonight. This never happened."

Elena could always thank him later.

They stopped talking when he walked back outside, but he had heard everything anyway.

The fact that Elena chose to keep her memory because of Stefan – because of how she _feels _about him – makes him insanely jealous. Instead he pretended not to have heard them, hoping that he didn't look like he was sulking.

He wondered if he would have erased her memory if she had asked him to. He wondered if he would have been able to refuse. He didn't think he would. So even thought her reasons for remembering drove him crazy with jealously, he was glad that she didn't ask that of him, because Damon didn't want to be forgotten.


	6. The Turning Point

**The Turning Point**

It was a vampire. Of that there was no doubt. She could feel the terror consume her, the piercing scream leaving her throat as those legs reached the car. Then a strong hand clamped itself over her mouth.

"It's me!" a voice yells as the owner kneels down towards her, and she's suddenly caught up in his familiar eyes, familiar face, familiar because it's Damon. Only Damon. Just Damon. _Justdamonjustdamonjustdamon _andher heart is flying in her chest and it hurts to breath and she never thought she would ever be so happy to see Damon Salvatore, but she is. So happy she could cry with relief.

"You could have at least looked where you were going," he snarls at her. He had sustained enough injuries tonight to last him for the rest of eternity. Healing himself has left him thirsty and in a bad mood. He carefully lifts her from the confines of her car which isn't exactly easy. Once she's out he continues to carry her, unsure if she can walk, or if she sustained any injuries in hitting him.

Other than her pale face and her racing heart, she seems okay. He smells blood, but he thinks it's more likely his own that had soaked into his shirt. He can also detect the scent of his brother, hanging over her like a second skin. He wonders why she was driving away from the Salvatore hostel at such speed until he noticed that she's not wearing her pendant. This revelation makes him blink and cock his head in surprise. "Did you fight with Stefan?"

When she looks pointedly away from him and doesn't reply, he heaves a sigh and rolls his eyes. _What did perfect Stefan do now?_ "You're not wearing the pendant, Elena," he says more seriously. He is not one to nag but this is important. "You should never take it off."

The venom in her response doesn't faze him even though she practically spits at him. "Stay away from me! I'm not your precious _Katherine._" She spits the name like a dirty word.

Huh. So she had seen the picture_. Way to go, Stefan. _He sighs again and pinches the bridge of his nose. He knows that Stefan wasn't dumb enough to show it to her. She must have found it while in his room. But he knows that now isn't the time for petty squabbles over dead ex-girlfriend lookalikes and he needs her to know it.

"Elena, I don't care how angry you are. You don't take it off – ever. I just got a call from the Sheriff. Somebody staked and killed Logan Fell."

"Good. I'll send them a card," she snarls, struggling in his arms to demand that he put her down. But he doesn't let go and she's too weak to fight him. He needs to make her see.

"Someone _turned_ him, Elena," he says slowly, like he's talking to a child. "Someone turned him _and_ staked him, and it wasn't Stefan and it sure as hell wasn't me."

Now it's her turn to blink. "You didn't turn Logan?" Her voice is higher, tinged with fear as he shakes his head. "Then who?"

"I don't know," he growls. Because he doesn't know and he doesn't like not knowing. He likes the idea of another vampire on his turf even less. The fact that Logan is dead is extremely inconvenient, and he feels his anger blaze within him when he remembers that he can no longer extract the necessary information on Logan's maker, leaving the closed tomb to remain a dead end without the witch's crystal.

Elena is silent before him. He can practically smell her fear. Her heart is pounding inside her chest and the sound of it twists his stomach in hunger. He has sustained injuries from her reckless driving and it seems almost too apt that she be the one to make it up to him. Just the thought alone makes his eyes darken, veins lifting to the surface of his skin as his fangs push their way through his gums. In the dark she can see the subtle changes in his face and she takes one shaky step backwards.

"No, Damon. Please," she begs, terror shaking her voice. She knows what is going to happen. His eyes are burning with hunger. Suddenly she wishes she were back at the Salvatore hostel with the other Salvatore brother, because even though that one lies to her, at least she was never in danger of being eaten. Memories of Caroline's bite marks make a grizzly reappearance in her mind. She is not unaware that he could make her compliant and she curses herself for taking off the pendant.

"Please," she mumbles again. She feels like crying but her body is sore and all she wants to do is to sleep and wake up from this nightmare in which she looks exactly like Katherine.

Looking at the scared human before him does nothing but tempt Damon's vampiric nature, however it occurs to him that taking blood from Elena might just be a bad idea and so he refrains, fighting to suppress his immense hunger until his eyes lighten and his fangs disappear. He better take her home he thinks, before he ends up feeding from her and so in a flash she is in his arms again, squirming in fear at the sudden contact.

"Let me go!" she protests against his arms, but she is no match for him and she can barely walk as it is.

"I'm taking you home," he clarifies. He is forcing himself to look at her face instead of the creamy expanse of her neck.

Later that evening Elena is lying on a large antique sofa in the Salvatore hostel. She sustained a cut on her forehead and another on her arm and Stefan is silently dressing her small wounds. Still she refuses to look at him and she huffs impatiently in annoyance at the vampire's constant attention. When Damon said he was taking her home, she had assumed that he had meant _her_ house. She is angry that Damon had brought her back to the hostel instead and she wonders if she should call Aunt Jenna to pick her up.

As if he reads her mind, Stefan flashes away and is back again, this time his phone is in his hand and he places it in her own with a regretful sigh. He knows that she doesn't want to be here and so he is giving her the option to leave.

She stares at the phone in her hand for a moment, knowing that his eyes are upon her. She wonders why he is always so caring when it comes to her, but when she answer comes she remembers bitterly that it's probably due to the fact that she looks exactly like Katherine.

Knowing that his eyes are still upon her, she dials.

* * *

A/N: Okay so I skipped a few. I apologize and I will post the missing ones at some point, but right now I just want to catch up with the episodes. Omg I can't wait to find out who she runs over!! We know for certain that it isn't Alaric. It can't be Stefan, obviously. Logan is dead. It just could be Damon, although it's rather unlikely.


	7. Let the Right One In

**Let the Right One In**

It was the smell that alerted him first. The empty casualties of Damon's stash of blood packets lay scattered across the study like so many victims from his own murderous past, each one drained and empty.

There was a brief moment of unease. His eyes scanned the room, at first looking for signs of intrusion until the rest of his supernatural senses finally reviled the truth.

And there it was. For the first time in more than a hundred years, Stefan, his perfectly self controlled, morally infallible _saint_ of a brother was _drinking human blood_.

It was almost completely inconceivable. He had spent so many years with Mr Abstinence that Damon couldn't quite get his head around it. It was like coming home and finding your anorexic housemate stuffing their face with chocolate. He couldn't even remember the last time he had even _seen_ Stefan feed.

It was only many decades of practice that prevented his feelings from showing on his face as Stefan's eyes met his. The expression of defeat and complete renegade hunger hunted his brother's face. Somehow out of all the people in the world only Damon knows the significance of this.

And surprisingly, there was no joy to be had at his brother's failure. This was not a victory to be celebrated.

And so he said nothing as he left the room, part of him knowing that things would only get a lot worse before they got better.

It would be a downward spiral of self-loathing form here for Stefan. He would be a complete killjoy for at least a week and he, Damon, would have to put up with it.

At least the squirrels were happy.


End file.
